1918 North Carolina State League — News & Notes
Some final tidbits on the 1918 season:
• Catcher
Dave Meeks, who currently holds the longest hitting streak in the NCSL (23 games), retired at the end of the 1918 campaign. He spent all six years of his Tar Heel baseball career with the Asheville Tourists. He set the league hitting-streak mark right off the bat in 1913, the inaugural season for the league. Meeks walks away from the game with 559 total hits and a .259 career average…
As a side note, the Tourists went out in the off-season and traded for catcher
Vincente Nieves, who has been a pretty solid backstop for Raleigh the past few years. Nieves was the 1914 Newcomer of the Year and has been a four-time Glove Wizard winner...
• Greensboro hung on to manager
Abraham Wise despite the Patriots’ continuing woes. Wise has been with the Pats for three complete seasons, finishing in last place each time. Wise won the league's regular season title with Raleigh in 1914 but got fired after the Caps were fifth in 1915. Greensboro picked him up but he hasn’t fared too well since. Hey, at least he has a job...
• On the other hand, Asheville did fire manager
Ollie Spence, who led the Tourists to the 1916 title (and directed Winston to the 1913 championship). Some Tourists fans were upset about this because Spence is considered one of the top managers out there, with two titles under his belt. His Asheville team finished third in 1918 and fourth in 1917, deemed not good enough by team owners to keep around. The Tourists want to contend in 1919 and don't feel Spence is the man to get them there...
• Whoever was throwing batting practice for Raleigh Capitals hitters back in February got dismissed by the club when he beaned 1B
Chad Spencer with a hard throw. The ball caught Spencer right in the ribs, forcing him to miss four weeks of time normally devoted to getting ready for the season. Spencer hit .233 once he was cleared to swing again and said he “never felt quite right“ after the bean-ball incident.
• Winston all-star
Angel Pellicer had a monster seven-RBI game against Asheville on May 25. He hit a grand slam and later tripled with a couple of guys on base.
• Winston-Salem OF
Ryan Travis set a new NCSL single-season record for singles with 129.
• NCSL pitchers set three new single-season league records in 1918 -- for losses (Greensboro’s
Alejandro Rodriguez, 18), complete games (Charlotte’s
Gary “Brick” Lee, 20) and shutouts (Charlotte’s
Craig Clark, 6).
Rodriguez opted to retire after the season. Unfortunately, he doesn’t leave much of a legacy. He’s the current league leader in career losses, posting a 57-89 record in his time in the NCSL. His final ERA was 3.42. It's obviously a lot tougher to generate wins with that kind of ERA when your team stinks...